Tatyana McFadden, of Maryland, won the women's wheelchair division in the 117th Boston Marathon with a time of 1:45:25. Paralyzed at birth, it was not until six years later that Tatyana was given her first wheelchair.

Tatyana was born in St.Petersburg, Russia, with spina bifida -- a birth defect that involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord. It left her paralyzed below the waist.

Abandoned in an orphanage that could not afford wheelchairs, she spent the first six years of her life walking on her arms, using her hands as feet.

"I didn't even know what sports were. I was just hoping for a family. I just wanted to live," McFadden told ESPN.

Her life changed in 1994 when Deborah McFadden, the commissioner of disabilities for the U.S. Health Department, adopted her and brought her to the United States.

Tatyana McFadden, who was 6 at the time, was very sick when she arrived, so her mother enrolled her in different youth sports programs in Maryland to aid in her recovery.

When she was 15, Tatyana was named a member of the U.S. track and field team at the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games. She won a silver medal in the 100 meters and a bronze in the 200 meters.

Two years later, she won a gold medal in the 100m in world record time at the 2006 IPC World Championships in the Netherlands.

In 2011, McFadden returned to Russia to visit the orphanage. Deborah McFadden described the visit to the Washington Running report.

"She picked up every child who was disabled and cuddled them," she said. "The staff had never seen anything like this. They were speechless. I brought in some DVDs to show her racing, and people were crying. There is no dream they could have had that this person would achieve anything."

Tatyana, who attends the University of Illinois, plans to race in the London Marathon on Sunday.